Trapper keeper

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, 14 years, and have always had jobs and opportunities, but I don’t think about it like that,” Trapper said. “I still think I’m trying to make it.”

The scrappy singer-songwriter has been rewarded for all his humble hard work with tours supporting the likes of Matchbox Twenty in his alt-rock band, The Push Stars. His songs — both with the band and solo — have appeared in films like “There’s Something About Mary,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and “August Rush,” which featured “This Time.”

“Thousands of people have covered that song,” Trapper said. “There’s one from this heavyset bald guy who sings it without a shirt on. I never thought that someday, someone would be singing it shirtless on YouTube.” With The Push Stars on indefinite hiatus, Trapper has cherished the move to the more quaint routine of solo performer, watching his life go from a massive projection to an open book.

“There’s this bizarre, outside pressure that everything has to be big.

When you do solo work, it can be very isolated, but there’s a beauty in it,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has seen my solo show and left not knowing who I am and where I am from. I’ve seen people laugh at my gigs. I’ve seen people cry at my gigs. You don’t get that sort of intimacy at a big rock show.”

The change also pushed him to become a more well-rounded performer, honing his craft to include storytelling and even a few jokes to complement his ceaseless work to grow as a songwriter and musician.

“I used to take it for granted that I had a little talent and could glide by … play shows a little drunk or not practice,” Trapper said. “Now that it’s solo, that goes out the window. You have to be good on all levels.”

Accordingly, Trapper believes his latest album, “The Few & the Far Between,” is his best and most personal to date. The effort features vocals from a recent tourmate, Men at Work’s Colin Hay, and he’s come to enjoy sharing such personal ballads with strangers on the road, even if it initially proved a tad difficult.

“At first, I couldn’t listen to it,” he said. “There were moments that were too intimate and too personal. But that’s the thing I like about records: that you can share a feeling.”